There are 11 movies in the "Halloween" franchise;
however, you probably rarely consider the man who came up
with the idea for the horror classic. Keep reading to see what
you don't know about the original movie.

Irwin Yablans (center) came up with the idea for "Halloween."

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Irwin Yablans and his two grandsons attend the premiere of "Halloween" on October 17, 2018.

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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

According to his autobiography "The Man Who Created
Halloween," Yablans may not have pushed for the creation of
the holiday staple if it weren't for the interference of his
younger brother, Frank.

Yablans worked primarily as a salesman and distributor at
Paramount and Warner Bros. studios. While at Paramount, he turned
down a huge opportunity to oust and take over his boss' position
as VP manager of sales. The man who eventually took over was his
younger brother Frank, a longtime Disney
employee.

Frank asked his brother to work as a production assistant. The
adjustment, though difficult at first, was probably the best
thing that ever happened to him.

After ending his contract at Paramount, Yablans left the major
studios to run independent studio Compass International Pictures,
which led to his eventual meeting with the real-life Michael
Myers and the creation of "Halloween."

Yablans came up with the idea for the film on a first-class flight back to Los Angeles.

After the success of Carpenter's first film, Yablans knew he
wanted him on board to work on a follow-up film.

"The idea came to me that a movie about babysitters in jeopardy
could be interesting," said Yablans. "I reasoned that everyone
had either been a babysitter, hired one, or at the very least,
been a baby."

The character Michael Myers is a real person.

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Myers isn't based on the film distributor, but his name does honor him.

At the time, Myers was the owner of a small independent film
distributing company in London, Miracle Pictures.

Yablans met with Myers to discuss the entry of Carpenter's "The
Assault on Precinct 13" in the London Film Festival. John
Carpenter and Yablans chose the name Michael Myers to honor him.

Director John Carpenter had two requests for the film.

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Here's how one of the original posters for the 1978 movie looked.

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Compass International Productions

1. The credits above the film read "John Carpenter's Halloween."

2. Carpenter's girlfriend, Debra Hill, would be named producer,
and allowed to co-write the script.

It had a small budget of $300,000.

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The young Michael Myers murdered his older sister in the movie.

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Compass International Productions

Director, producer, and writer John Carpenter previously
made "Assault on Precinct 13" for $180,000, according to "The Man
Who Created Halloween."

"The film was inspired by both "Psycho" and "The Exorcist."

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A still from "Psycho."

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Paramount Pictures

"Both ... had benefitted from claustrophobic atmospheres -
actually one haunted house," thought Yablans. "Why not set the
movie on the night that celebrates fright, Halloween!"

The film even used Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of "Psycho" star Janet Leigh, to help generate interest in the film.

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Janet Leigh next to her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis.

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Paramount, Compass International Productions

An 18-year-old Curtis was virtually unknown at the time. This
became her break-out role.

"I found a shot of Janet Leigh in the infamous shower scene from
"Psycho" and placed it alongside one of Jamie, in a similar
screaming pose," said Yablans. "We sent it out on the wires, and
it made every newspaper in the country."

Yablans specifically wanted no blood or gore in "Halloween."

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The actual violence seen on screen is kept to a minimum and is left to the imagination.

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Compass International Productions

Rather, he wanted a character-driven, compelling drama with "all
the right scares in all the right places."

"I had this idea we could orchestrate the scares and manipulate
the audience," said Yablans. "I cited the example of following a
protagonist to the right side of the screen, only to surprise on
the left side."

The original suggestion for the film's villain was "The Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" actor Christopher Lee.

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Could you have seen Lee as Myers?

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Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

However, Yablans thought Lee would make "Halloween" into another
typical horror film.

Instead, he decided on British actor Donald Pleasence, who he had
previously seen as the bad guy in Western "Will Penny."

Yablans landed him for $25,000.

Yablans' son Mickey played Richie who runs into Myers.

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Mickey can be seen briefly in "Halloween."

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Compass International Productions

You can see him in the scene when Myers heads to school and
Richie is instantly freaked out.

It cost $10,000 to compose, direct, produce, and write the music for "Halloween."

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"Halloween" was all about horror at its simplest.

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Compass International Productions

For the price, Yablans suggested Carpenter receive 10
percent of net profits of the film.

He considered shopping the film to a major distributor.

In order to get the attention of a major studio like Paramount or
Warner Bros., Yablans decided to debut the film to UCLA students
at the AVCO Cinema.

However, after seeing and hearing the overwhelming applause and
screaming from the young audience, he decided to keep the movie
in-house with Compass.

Yablans chose three theaters in Kansas City as the first locations to test the movie.

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He figured the area wouldn't attract too much attention and advertising costs there were manageable.

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Compass International Productions

The first day resulted in $200 per theater; however, business
doubled the following night and the night after that.

"By the end of the first week, "Halloween" was the biggest thing
in Kansas City," said Yablans. "It was a phenomenal example of
word of mouth."

The film played until theaters had to accommodate for Christmas films, including Steven Spielberg's eventual flop, "1941."

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The above is a still from "1941."

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Universal Pictures

A photograph in Yablan's office reads: "Irwin Yablans presents
Halloween." On the marquee, just below those words, it read,
"Opening soon, Spielberg's 1941."

"Halloween" returned to theaters two weeks after the debut of
"1941."

When M&R Theaters in Chicago refused to honor Compass' 90/10 deal for profits gained from "Halloween," Yablans threatened to take their contract to both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

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Yablans was going to make sure he received every dollar owed to him.

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Compass International Productions

"I held up a copy of the contract that we had both signed,"
said Yablans. "'This is what we agreed to, sir, and I expect you
to honor it. If you do not, I will take a two-page double-truck
ad in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. One side will show our
contract, and the other will contain a letter to Jack Valenti,
the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, describing
your disgraceful tactics.' He knew that I would do it, and
finally paid every dollar owed."

After Compass announced a sequel to "Halloween," Yablans sold off the film rights due, in part to, a busy schedule.

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Jamie Lee Curtis returned for the sequel. Yablans realized he made a huge mistake.

Yablans' film company was about to put out "Fade to Black" and
"Seduction."

"I have made some big mistakes in my life, but that one was a
whopper," said Yablans. "True we made a lot of money on the deal,
but we temporarily lost control of a franchise that could have
propelled Compass to unimaginable growth."